Buying a HomeTo Buy or to RentAccording to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation （CMHC)

Buying a Home

To Buy or to Rent

According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) , 37 percent of Canadian renters could afford to buy a home. But when it comes to buying or tenting, age, lifestyle, whether or not you're a parent, even where you live, all play a role. This was among, findings of a late 1990s study by the CMHC, which wanted to know why, in Quebec, so many 25-to 34-year-olds--the so-called Generation X--were tenants rather than homeowners. At the time, 56 percent of this age group outside Quebec owned their homes, a figure that dropped to 34 percent in Montreal. CMHC's Kim-Anh Lam explained: "When we asked about their priorities, Gen Xers placed housing fifth--after recreational activities, retirement planning, consolidating their jobs, and repaying their debt." However, home ownership became a priority once a couple became serious, or the first child arrived.

Most experts agree that renting makes sense if you're highly mobile and don't want to be burdened with the slow pace of the buying and selling process, or if you can't or don't want to take on the long-term financial commitments of a mortgage and home maintenance. Renting may be necessary in order to save for the 10 to 20 percent down payment needed to buy a home.

Whether you buy or rent your home, you should use no more than 35 percent of your income on housing, including rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, and repair. Most banks recommend that no more than 30 percent of your income should support a mortgage, and no more than 40 percent should go to a mortgage and other debt.

Offer to Purchase

Home buyers sometimes get stung because they or their representatives fail to include important conditions in the offer to Purchase , or, as it is sometimes called, the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Your offer can be conditional-it is good only on condition that you obtain mortgage financing, or the house passes a home inspection or a termite check. In Homebuying Step by Step: a consumer guide and workbook, the CMHC recommends your offer also include:

Basic details such as your legal name, the name of the vendor, and the legal and civic address of the property.

The purchase price and all financial details included in this should be the amount of the deposit and any interest to be paid on it. You may also want to spell out the specific amount of penalty should you wish to back out of the deal.

The chattel or items in the home which are included in the purchase price. This may include window coverings, appliances, a satellite dish, carpeting, bookcases, or a backyard swing.

Enumerate all of them, and stipulate that everything in the house--all appliances and systems--be in working order at the time of closing of title.

Date of closing and taking possession--usually 30 to 60 days from the date of the agreement, but it can be longer.

Request for a current land survey of the property.

Date and time at which the offer becomes null and void. A 48-hour limit on the seller's response time to your offer is reasonable.

For Buyers only

A typical real estate transaction often begins when prospective buyers drive by a house that looks appealing, take down the name of the real estate agent listed on the sign in the yard, and call that person for an appointment. The only problem, That agent--usually the listing agent--works for a commission paid by the seller, and the agent's legal responsibility is to get the best price possible for the current homeowners, not the prospective buyers.

Common sense calls for buyers to be honest about their priorities, preferences, and price range. But since the agent's commission comes from the vendor, and since this money is a percentage of the sale price, it is entirely possible that any information the buyers reveal to the agent--

A．Y

B．N

C．NG